By Jun Mai Xie Yu
Anbang Insurance Group chairman and CEO Wu Xiaohui runs as he is followed by journalists ahead of the opening of Boao Forum for Asia on March 25, in Boao, Hainan Province of China.
Wu Xiaohui, (click here) the glamorous, high-profile financier behind the insurance giant Anbang, was known for his good connections. Having married a granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, he rubbed shoulders with political and business elites, both in China and abroad.
Wu made global headlines in 2014 with Anbang’s deal to acquire the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York from the Blackstone Group for US$1.9 billion, the largest amount ever paid for a single property.
Thus, despite his controversial freewheeling leveraged expansion tactics – which had been long questioned by insiders – Wu’s fall from grace, which began last June when he was detained by authorities, was a shock to many.
Wu, the former chairman of Anbang Group, China’s biggest private insurance conglomerate and one of China’s largest asset buyers, was found guilty on Thursday of illegal fundraising fraud valued at US$10.4 billion, and embezzling US$1.6 billion from Anbang’s insurance premium income. The 51-year-old was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment....
